Oklahoma Corporation Commission officials have opened investigations into five phone companies to see if those firms failed to oversee a federal program properly that provides subsidized cellphones or landlines to low-income residents.

Phone company reimbursements from the federal Lifeline program quadrupled in Oklahoma from 2008 to 2012. More than $218 million was paid to companies last year, according to an analysis of reimbursement data by The Oklahoman.

The commission's public utility division this month filed “show-cause” applications for hearings into Easy Wireless of Florida; Assist Wireless of Texas; True Wireless of Tennessee; Icon Telecom of Idaho; and Terracom Wireless in Oklahoma City. The applications are the first step in possible enforcement proceedings.

Launched in 1985

The federal Lifeline program provides telephone service subsidies for low-income households. The program started in the 1985 for landlines and expanded in 2008 to include cellphone service. Money for the program comes from Universal Service Fund fees, which are typically passed on to customers by phone companies.

Corporation Commission staff are concerned that some companies have signed up low-income customers without verifying their eligibility. Only one Lifeline service is allowed for each household with income at or below 135 percent of federal poverty guidelines. An applicant also can be on food stamps, have children in free- or reduced-lunch programs or be a participant in several other types of low-income assistance.

In a January hearing, Maribeth Snapp, the utility division's telecommunications policy director, told commissioners the review so far had found 20,000 customers with multiple phones from the same addresses.

Oklahoma has an enhanced version of the federal Lifeline reimbursement to phone companies because of a provision for former Indian lands. The federal Lifeline program offers more than $34 in subsidies per household in most of Oklahoma, compared with about $9 in subsidies per household in other states.

Lifeline reimbursements for Oklahoma totaled $55 million in 2008. That rose to almost $67 million in 2010 and $90 million in 2011. Last year, Oklahoma Lifeline reimbursements ballooned to $218 million, according to an analysis of data from the Universal Service Administrative Co., a nonprofit that administers the fund.

The five phone companies under review by Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff represented about two-thirds of the state's total Lifeline reimbursements in 2012. They were led by True Wireless, with $46 million, and Terracom Wireless, with $36.6 million.

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by Paul Monies

Energy Reporter

Paul Monies is an energy reporter for The Oklahoman. He has worked at newspapers in Texas and Missouri and most recently was a data journalist for USA Today in the Washington D.C. area. Monies also spent nine years as a business reporter and...